Inside the historic 1860 Starr Institute, enjoy the warm hospitality and unique settings of our inviting country pub, vibrant dining room, host a private event in the Liberty Lounge , and during warmer months, visit the Boat Bar through the wrought iron gates.

Serving lunch, dinner & Sunday brunch, featuring seasonal menus with the best of new & old world beer, wine & spirits.

Life, Liberty, Happiness. Welcome.

Liberty of Rhinebeck

6417 Montgomery Street

Rhinebeck, NY

845.876.1760

Hours

Mon: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

Tues: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

Wed: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

Thurs: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

Fri: 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

Sat: 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

Sun: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

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The Starr Institute was founded as a library in 1862 "for the intellectual and moral improvement of the inhabitants of the town of Rhinebeck." Mary Morton Miller, widow of Congressman William Starr Miller and granddaughter of Revolutionary War General Philip J. Schuyler, donated the Gothic Revival building and named it after her husband with the caveat that the building trustees not permit it to be used for "Courts and Trials of Cases at Law, nor for Abolition Lectures or meetings, nor as a place for Balls and suppers." Drat. A century-and-a-half later, the original Starr Institute building is now Liberty Public House. Liberty is run by Patricia Panarella and her son, Sergia Rebraca. In the 1980s and '90s, Panarella and her husband, Nikola Rebraca, ran a popular Italian restaurant on New York's Upper West Side, Panarellas. The Restaurant was Recognized by legendary New York Times food columnist Gale Green. Next door, they opened Cucina Rustica, what New York Times food writer Florence Fabricant called a "charmingly cluttered food shop." "Charmingly cluttered" also may be a genetic family trait: Panarella and Rebraca are big antique collectors and many of the copious items on display come from their own collections. The building, in fact, is no stranger to music entertainment: In 1862, a well-received performance of The Flower Queen Cantata for Unchanged Voices featured two young girls whose performances were, according to the Rhinebeck Gazette, "very fine and they were loudly applauded."When the library opened, there was a Ladies Room where woman held sewing circles. It turns out that one of the 660 bound volumes that made up the Starr Institute's initial collection was Noctes Ambrosianae, a series of fictional dialogues set in Ambrose's Tavern in Edinburgh. They were written between 1822 and 1835 and published in Blackwood's, a popular Scottish magazine of the day. Their primary author, Professor John Wilson, translated and used a quote from the ancient Greek poet Phocylides as his motto, which also seems fitting when applied to Liberty: Tis right for good wine-bibbing people Not to let the jug pace round the board like a cripple; but gaily to chat while discussing their tipple.